After SOD reviewed the "reunion," I sent them this
letter. (They printed nothing of it.)
Dear Editors:
Thank you for pointing out some of the things that did
not ring true in Todd and Tea's reunion ("Late-Breaking News,"
March 28). This conclusion of their story was emotionally
and artistically dissatisfying because it did not build upon
what had gone before.
The point of the "fake personalities" plot seemed to be
that Todd literally "analyzed" his own psyche by separating
out all the very authentic parts of it. Viki told him so in
the end, and he was then haunted in his dreams by his
"alters." Now we are expected to believe that all of this
amounted to nothing.
It turned out to be totally believable that Todd would
regress to criminal behavior when accused of
Georgie Phillips' murder. Todd had never received
therapy, and, it was revealed, he had never acknowledged
having been raped by Peter Manning. But Sam forced
Todd to face the rape, and the self-analysis of the fake
D.I.D. was a seemingly therapeutic and redeeming
experience. To have Todd still reverting to criminality,
after all this, makes no dramatic sense.
Although Todd and Tea's relationship was repressed
and outwardly conservative, it was always more
erotically-charged than that of any number of soap
couples doing any amount of sexual gymnastics.
Todd's apparent denial now of their sexual connection
contradicts everything we have previously seen of them.
Again, the "fake personalities" storyline is dismantled
and robbed of its richness, if we are to believe that
the sexually curious "Tom" and the swaggering "Rod"
were not really a part of Todd's personality, or that
he never recognized them to be.
It may be possible to rationalize the writing of this
tacked-on conclusion to Todd and Tea's story, but one
cannot help but be disappointed in something that
would make us think so much and feel so little.
Todd and Tea's ending in 1998 did not bring them
together, but it was perfection as storytelling.
(End of letter)
